“Up in the Air,” one of the pictures nominated at the Golden Globes. Foreground from left: Vera Farmiga, George Clooney

The movies “Up in the Air,” “Nine,” and “Avatar” were among the leading contenders when the nominees for the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards were announced this morning in Hollywood. “Up in the Air,” a comedy-drama starring George Clooney, topped the field with six nominations.

James Cameron’s pricey sci-fi film “Avatar” scored four nominations, including one for best drama; actress Sandra Bullock continued her career resurgence with acting nominations in two separate categories for “The Blind Side” (in drama) and ”The Proposal” (comedy or musical); and Meryl Streep will face off against her toughest competition–herself–with acting nods for “Julie & Julia” and “It’s Complicated” (both comedies).

The nominees for best motion picture-drama are “Avatar” (Twentieth Century Fox); “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment); “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures) [Note: a previous version of this story left out Universal]; “Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate); and “Up in the Air” (Paramount Pictures).

In something of a surprise, “(500) Days of Summer” (Fox Searchlight) is also up for best picture–comedy or musical, along with “Nine” (The Weinstein Company), ”The Hangover” (Warner Bros.), “It’s Complicated” (Universal Pictures), and “Julie & Julia” (Sony PIctures).

In the best director-motion picture category, Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”) will face off against Cameron (“Avatar”), and Quentin Tarantino (“Inglourious Basterds”), Jason Reitman (“Up in the Air”) and Clint Eastwood (“Invictus”).

Previously, only three women had ever been nominated for best director Golden Globes (Barbara Streisand won for her 1983 movie “Yentl”). Three have been nominated in that category at the Oscars, with no winners. Bigelow is considered a favorite in the category by some. She was recently named best director by the New York Film Critics Circle.

Veterans Jeff Bridges (“Crazy Heart”), Morgan Freeman (“Invictus”) and Clooney (“Up in the Air”) are up for awards in the best actor-drama slot.

In best original song for a motion picture, U2 (“Winter” from the movie “Brothers”) will contend against Paul McCartney (“I Want to Come Home” from “Everybody’s Fine”), among others.

Among the fresh faces, Joseph Gordon-Levitt secured a nomination for best actor in a comedy or musical for his performance in “(500) Days of Summer,” and Carey Mulligan (“An Education”) and Gabourey Sidibe both earned nods in the best actress in a drama category. Mo’Nique (“Precious”) is considered a leading contender in the best supporting actress category.

Alec Baldwin, the co-host of the coming Academy Awards telecast, was tapped for a nomination for best performance by an actor in a television series – musical or comedy. No doubt comedian Ricky Gervais, host of the coming Globes telecast, will have some sport with that.

Newcomers “Glee” and “Modern Family” earned nods in the best television series-comedy or musical category.

HBO, as usual, led all TV networks with 17 nominations, followed by Fox and Showtime with six each.

The Golden Globes, which are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 90 journalists, will be broadcast on NBC on Jan. 17, at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT. The awards honor achievements in film and television.

Though the selections often differ in significant ways, the Globes are generally seen as something that can help forecast, and in some cases influence, the selection of Oscar nominees and winners. Because the Globes select ten or more films broken into two categories–best drama and best musical or comedy–the best picture field typically gets narrowed down between the Globes and the Oscars. This year, the best-picture Oscar field was expanded from five films to ten, which will give more of an opportunity for Globe-nominated films to get an Oscar nod.

The 2010 Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 7.

What did you think of the Golden Globe nominees? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section.